I believe, not many people have heard the name "Nikola Kodjabashia." So it is my pleasure to introduce you this wonderful composer that comes from my country!
First, I will write some words for his biography, just to give you a rough frame of this remarkable human being. Nikola comes from a family of musicians. He finishes high school and then graduates at the University of Music in Skopje, Macedonia as a composer and a pianist. While being a student he had many private lessons with famous and eminent persons among the world of composition, jazz harmony, and piano (He had lessons with György Ligeti, György Kurtág, Marco Stroppa and he meets the legendary John Cage personally!). Kodjabashia finishes postgraduate studies in Bucharest, and he completes his education at the “Kings College London” (where he also taught composition) in the class of the famous avant-garde artist Sir Harrison Birtwistle. In the season 2001-2002, Kodjabashia was compositor/ director and conductor (Musical Director) in "National Theatre London."
The album Penelope X (7 Songs And Postludium From The Musical "Odysseys And His Women") is released in 2011. The album is the full soundtrack of the musical "Penelope X" created by Nikola Kodjabashia, who is credited as the author. The album features a variety of instruments and quite a lot of electronic sound and timbers. In the album are included Nikola Kodjabashia featuring "Foltin" (well-known for the alternative-music audience on the Balkan) and Goce Stevkovski.
About the musical Nikola stated:
The story is based on the epic poem of Homer, Odysseus and his return home. It is a story everyone can relate to. The musical is a black comedy, funny, dark and entertaining.
The genre of the album is I would say an Avantgarde. It is a fusion of electronic, jazz, folk and contemporary elements that create a different level of energy and ambient. The album features a variety of instruments and quite a lot of electronic sound and timbers. The lyrics of most of the tracks are in Macedonian language, however, some of them are in English like "Cinderella Man". This track is one of my favorite from the album it has a rich palate of elements from Electronica, Tango, Brazilian and Balkan Beats.
Nikola Kodjabashia is a composer that is a real guru of emerging variety of genres in one homogenous package. His music is an electric blend of historical and geographical styles, genres and other non-music media mostly literary and scenic, but everything in the context of a unified semantic developed narrative.
*** Kodjabashia said:
- Authors write only one composition in their whole life!
